


Safety Belt Challenge

by marcicat



Category: Star Trek Into Darkness - Fandom, Star Trek Reboot
Genre: Gen, safety belt challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-29
Updated: 2013-05-29
Packaged: 2017-12-13 08:19:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/822079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marcicat/pseuds/marcicat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life on the Enterprise seems to involve a higher than average amount of sprinting for your life.  Naturally, Kirk turns it into a game.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Safety Belt Challenge

**Author's Note:**

  * For [starandrea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/starandrea/gifts).



"The rules are simple.  Five being team, five locations on the ship.  First round: bridge, engineering, transporter room, med bay, shuttle bay.  Pick an order, pick where each being starts, and strap in.  On the signal, everyone rotates to their next location.  Keep going till you've reached all five. On each swap, the computer will automatically release the straps once everyone on your team has reached their location and belted in."

The senior staff all looked at each other. Jim leaned back in his chair and waited.

"This is insane.” Bones, of course, looking outraged.

"Forcing everyone to run on a track and expecting them to keep up with their fitness requirements is insane.  This is fun."

“What’s the prize?” Sulu asked.

“Officially? Bragging rights.”

Uhura’s expression was pure disbelief. (Spock looked contemplative, though, that was always a good sign.) “You’ve cleared this with the Admiralty?” she asked.

“I’ve cleared it with four other captains who’ve all agreed to the competition. Starfleet Command doesn’t sign off on every training activity in the fleet; that’s prerogative of ship’s personnel.”

Spock leaned forward. “It is true that speed of transit through the ship has been a critical component of 80.72 percent of our missions to date. It is a logical skill to encourage.”

Jim spread his hands out as if to say, ‘there, you see?’

***

_1\. The Challenge encourages communication and teamwork among crew members through healthy competition._

“I haven’t run this much since the Academy. I think my legs are staging a mutiny.”

“We’ll take a breather before the sprints. Save your breath for running."

“Come on, don’t underestimate the power of smack talk. I heard Lieutenant Uhura taught her team to say ‘you’re going down’ in eighteen different languages.”

“Yeah? Well, I heard Beta shift booby-trapped deck 9, so keep sharp.”

“You’re kidding — they still mad about the sudden need for lift repairs during their last competition round?”

“Hey, spot checks are a legitimate use of ship’s resources. Commander Scott green-lit the whole project. The timing was just — a coincidence.”

“Right.”

“Sprints?”

“Last one to med bay has to file our times?”

“You’re going down.”

 

_2\. The Challenge emphasizes physical fitness with mission-specific applications, while creating in-activity opportunities to review safety protocols._

Bones dropped his tray with a clatter.  Three, two, one...

"Jim.  I treated sixteen sprained ankles this morning.  Thirty-seven in the last week.  Care to guess why?"

"The suspiciously poor lighting on deck nine?  Extremely athletic sex? You probably shouldn't tell me, actually. Doctor-patient confidentiality.  It's all right, I understand."

Bones pointed his fork at him. “It’s your damned challenge!  Fifty-two reports -- 'misjudged corner.'  Do you have any idea what that looks like to Starfleet Command?"

Wasn’t that one of the benefits of a five-year mission? It didn’t look like anything to Starfleet Command until it got sent back in a batch of reports at the end of the month. “Wait -- what happened to number fifty-three?"

"Tripped over a chair."

"Well, we can't all be as sprightly as Chekov.  How's your team looking?"

Bones dropped his head back to stare at the ceiling, possibly to pray for patience.  He sighed.  "We have number fifty-three."

 

_3\. The Challenge develops critical thinking skills in a high pressure, low risk environment._

"Shit.  Shit, can anyone tell me where the Captain is?"

"His team's been practicing all week right after shift change.  So, probably somewhere in the maintenance shafts?"

"You really want to tell the Admiral that we can't connect her to the Captain because we've lost track of him in the vents and he’s not answering his communicator?”

"It's also possible he's outside the ship?  The rules this round just say no lifts and minimal corridor use."

"Yeah, that's not better."

“Can we stall her? What would Commander Spock do?”

“Not lose the Captain? Look, put a priority flag on all monitors at the Challenge checkpoints; he’s got to be headed for one of them.”

“What about the Admiral?”

“I’ll talk to her. Start the program and put her on screen.”

_“Lieutenant, what is the meaning of this delay? Where is Captain Kirk?”_

“Admiral, our apologies. Captain Kirk is currently engaged in a cross-training drill and will be available shortly.”

_“What is that, a feedback echo? I’m having trouble hearing you.”_

“Everything seems clear on this side. Could it be on your end, Admiral? You might try rebooting your comm and reconnecting.”

 

_4\. The Challenge increases familiarity with ship layout and systems, including those not directly related to a participant’s field of expertise._

It was possible someone had invited the crew to suggest variations on the Challenge. It was also possible that someone had set up an anonymized submission form, and that someone had added a line item to the senior staff meeting to choose the rules for the next round. (It was possible all those someones were Jim Kirk.)

“I like this one,” Sulu said, pointing to the screen. “Random locations.”

That could work. “Computer, show us a selection of possible five destination sets, leaving out crew quarters and restricted access areas.”

“Wait, since when do we have a Botany Lab?”

Their poker faces were impressive — a tournament could be a good idea — but it was Uhura who spoke first. “Must be mis-labeled. I’ll make a note to have someone fix it.”

Jim offered his best ‘I officially have no idea’ shrug, along with a stern ‘let this be a lesson to you to not label your secret botany labs’ look. “Great, then it’s decided?”

 

_5\. The Challenge creates opportunities for professional development integrating field knowledge with daily operations._

“What are you working on?”

“Trying to make the Challenge sound official — everyone’s supposed to offer suggestions, right? I heard the Captain’s going to get it submitted as an active service certification.”

“After last month? It took three days to fix the transporters.”

“I called that ‘creative problem-solving.’”

“Well, we did have to creatively use components from the environmental control systems to finish the job.”

“Maybe I could add in something about inter-departmental cooperation.”

“I always try to work in the phrase ‘supports operational synergies’ when I have to submit evaluations; you could use that.”

“Oh, that’s good. We’re still running after shift change, right?”

“Enhancing our physical and mental capabilities through team-building activities? Absolutely.”

“Damn. I’m writing that down.”


End file.
